Health Debt Bill Passes Committee
Melanie Rowen, a woman with multiple sclerosis living in San Francisco, appeared before the Assembly Committee on Health yesterday to talk about money — or rather, lack of it.
When she first found out she had multiple sclerosis, Rowen had health care insurance but her medication was still expensive. “My insurance plan required me to pay 30% of it,” Rowen said. “I couldn’t afford it, but I put it on credit cards.” As she watched her disease progress, she saw her bank account drain away and her health care debt pile up.
Assembly member Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) hopes to prevent similar scenarios with AB 1800 which would establish a limit on annual out-of-pocket expenses for prescription medications for insured Californians.
Assembly Committee Approves Newborn Screening
There is a relatively easy answer to a serious disease that hits newborns in California, according to Assembly member Marty Block (D-San Diego).
“This bill is designed to ensure that newborns are screened for critical congenital heart disease,” Block said, presenting his bill, AB 1731, to the Assembly Committee on Health.
“It is known as CCHD, it causes severe and life-threatening illness, and affects secen to nine of every 1,000 live births in the U.S. This will bring California’s newborn screening program into alignment with the most up-to-date public health standards and practices,” Block said.
Three Bills Aim To Change Nursing Home Care
The Assembly Committee on Health last week approved two bills to alter nursing home care in California and it will hear a third one this week.
AB 1752 by Mariko Yamada (D-Davis), expected to be heard in tomorrow’s health committee hearing, is called the Nursing Facility Bed Hold Protection Act of 2012. It would require the Department of Health Care Services to penalize facilities for refusal to readmit a patient on appeal.
The Assembly health committee passed two other nursing home-related bills last week, also authored by Yamada.
Senate Hearing Tackles Flu Vaccination Rate
It’s important to the general public that health care workers receive influenza inoculations, according to Senate member Lois Wolk (D-Davis), who was recently before the Senate Committee on Health to introduce SB 1318, which she hopes will increase the vaccination rate among health care professionals.
The bill would protect “our most vulnerable patients — infants, seniors and those who are immune-compromised,” Wolk said. “It would ensure that health care workers receive the influenza vaccination, or wear a mask during influenza season. It’s a choice: Get vaccinated, or wear the mask. We want to decrease the deaths from influenza, and increase the safety at hospitals.”
The California Nurses’ Association and the Service Employees International Union are against the policy, in part because they see it as singling out people who opt out of getting the vaccine, by making them wear a mask in patient care areas.
Pre-Existing Condition Reform Passes Committee
The Senate Committee on Health yesterday passed SB 961 by Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina), which would change the individual health insurance market in California, in part by halting insurer denials based on pre-existing conditions. It is similar to a bill — AB 1461 by Bill Monning (D-Carmel) — approved by the Assembly health committee one day earlier.
Both measures are designed to conform to the federal Affordable Care Act, Hernandez said, in advance of many other states.
“While some of you may not support the Affordable Care Act, it is currently the law of the land,” Hernandez said yesterday in introducing the measure. “And California continues to serve as a model for the rest of the nation.”
Immunization Procedure Passes Committee
Richard Pan is a pediatrician as well as an Assembly member, so the bills he authors on children’s health care carry a little more weight with his fellow legislators.
But Pan (D-Sacramento) had his hands full yesterday in the Assembly Committee on Health, as he introduced AB 2109, a bill that would require licensed providers to educate parents about the risks of skipping immunizations — for their children as well as others in the community. The bill would require providers to sign an exemption form specifying that parents had been educated about the risks but still chose against vaccinations.
“We want to make sure parents or guardians have an opportunity to talk to a licensed health care professional,” Pan said. “And the reason for that is, that decision doesn’t just impact that child. It impacts the larger community.”
State Wins Case to Cut Adult Day Provider Rates
After four similar cases went against the state in the past few months, the Department of Health Care Services won in court late Friday, when a federal judge refused to issue a preliminary injunction against Medi-Cal cutbacks.
The lawsuit, brought by the Adult Day Health Care Association, challenged the department’s plan to cut Medi-Cal provider rates by 10%. Judges in four other cases issued preliminary injunctions halting those cuts, including suits brought by the California Medical Association and the California Hospital Association.
The difference in this case, according to DHCS spokesman Norman Williams, lies in a previous settlement of another case over the state’s adult day health services. That settlement prompted the creation of a replacement program, Community-Based Adult Services, and included an agreement that covered the lower rates.
Bill Would Expand Clinics’ Hiring Options for Mental Health Care Providers
Palm Springs has a problem that is shared in rural communities across California, according to J.M. Evosevich, a marriage and family therapist from Palm Springs who is a past president of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. Evosevich said at a recent Assembly hearing that clinics throughout rural California have a problem: They can’t find enough social workers to take care of people’s mental health needs.
“There’s a waiting list for people that need mental health care, and they can’t provide it because they don’t have the [mental health] providers,” Evosevich said. “We are uniquely qualified to deal with marriage and family therapies. And those services are lacking in our area.”
AB 1785 by Bonnie Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) aims to change. The bill came before the Assembly Committee on Health last week.
Health Committee Approves Additions to Medical Review Plan
The independent medical review process in California needs an update according to Senate member Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) who introduced SB 1410 at Wednesday’s Senate Committee on Health hearing.
“This bill deals with the Independent Medical Review program as an important safeguard for consumers of health care in California,” Hernandez said. “Collectively these changes will improve the effectiveness and transparency of the IMR program.”
Hernandez said the bill adds three improvements to the current IMR process in the state.
‘It Can Be Costly to Treat CCS Kids’
Assembly member Cathleen Galgiani (D-Tracy) is well aware of the budget crisis in California. But she’s also aware of another crisis in children’s hospitals, she said.
“It can be costly to treat CCS (California Children’s Services) kids,” Galgiani said. “The Department was considering reimbursing hospitals at their negotiated California Medical Assistance Commission or otherwise known as CMAC rate. This bill would clarify [that] reimbursement.”
The CMAC rate is a hospital rate of reimbursement negotiated by the California Medical Assistance Commission. The state Department of Health Care Services would like to switch to that rate. Galgiani’s AB 1728 instead would maintain the current reimbursement rate, which is a hospital’s interim rate. The CMAC rate would go into effect unless this bill is passed.